Labor Day Picnic in the Rain

Yesterday we went up to Mt. Charleston for our annual "Labor Day Picnic". This year we went with the Heiselbetz's, the Smith's, and the McKee's. The clouds were out and the forecast called for a 30% chance of rain, so I was a little worried that our picnic was going to be ruined. There's only been one other time that it has rained on us for our Labor Day picnic and that was kind of a disaster, so I hoped this time would be different. As we headed up into the mountains it started sprinkling a little and I thought that was going to be fine, but I knew that meant the ground would be wet and that would make the kids get really dirty. When we got to the meadow it started raining harder...:( Luckily Josh packed our canopy so we had some shelter while we hung out. We weren't going to let the rain ruin our fun this time.


After we got things set up Jaedyn decided to "chill out" in her princess chair with Rylee...


...and the boys took off to explore and play...



Jaedyn and Rylee had a bite to eat before they played. Josh set up a "table" (one of our coolers) for the girls to eat on and Jaedyn, of course, only wanted to eat her Cheetos, but I did make her eat some grapes too.


Jantzen took a little break from playing to eat his Subway sandwich...


...and instead of eating his lunch, Jaron used his pocket knife to sharpen some sticks...


After they were done eating, the girls quickly got up to play with some large sticks like the big boys were...



Jaron finally took a break from his knife to eat his sandwich...


There was a ditch near where we were sitting and the kids took full advantage of playing in it. Unfortunately for Jaedyn, she was too small to get in and out of it all by herself with the wet ground...she got really dirty trying to get out and she hates when her hands are dirty.


I decided to go on a hike with the kids, they were so excited! We had to stop and take a lot of pictures along the way and it wasn't all my idea...the kids wanted it too.

Before we started hiking up the mountain, the kids saw this tree and thought it looked cool, so I took a picture of them by it.


Then the kids headed up the mountain to explore. Jaedyn was the last one in line heading up the mountain because she's the smallest, so when I saw Jantzen come down to help her up the hill I thought it was the sweetest thing...he's such a good big brother to her.


Here's our next stop. I love how Jaron's holding Jaedyn's hand now...


I'm not sure what's going on with Jaron in this picture, but he was loving the hiking stick he found. Maybe he's saying he's "King of the Mountain".


After hiking up a little ways, the kids found a tree to take a break on...


After their break, the kids were off again. This time Jaron found a hiking stick for Jaedyn to use. Jaron started doing this weird stance and Jaedyn had to copy him...I thought it was really cute, she was being so serious about it.


Josh and Neil caught up with us on our way down the mountain and they spent the rest of the hike with their girls...


I tried to get a picture of Jaedyn with her daddy at the end of our hike, but she wasn't too happy that the hike was over, so she didn't want to give me a cute smile.


Here's Josh's attempt at getting a picture of the two of us...


The sun started to come out from the clouds and the rain stopped, so the kids continued to play. They were attempting to make a bridge out of rocks in the ditch so they could cross it. I didn't think it was going to work, but I loved seeing them try. Even Jaedyn, Rylee, and Stella decided to help the boys out...


The McKee's got lost on the way up, so they got there late, but that didn't stop their boys from joining in on the fun the other kids were having. It was a big party for all of them...


Since the Smith's and the McKee's weren't there when I took the kids on the first hike, Me, Rikki, and Mary decided to take the boys on another one. Not all of the kids came this time, but it was still a fun adventure.


We met a new friend along the way...


While I was on the hike with the boys, Jaedyn enjoyed a movie on her daddy's phone with Rylee. I'm sure she was watching "Despicable Me" because that's the one she always watches on his phone...she loves that movie!


After our hike was over, all the adults hung out and chatted while the kids played some more in the dirt. Josh took my camera to take some pictures of Jaedyn. At first she didn't want her picture taken...


...but she quickly decided to give in and say cheese. That's what she's doing with her arms, saying "cheese".


Before we left, the kids found a see saw that someone had made and they wanted to check it out. Josh went over with Jaedyn because she hates to be left out of anything the big kids are doing. Josh put her on the see saw and by the look on her face, I'd say she loved it!




Jantzen was having a blast too!


Josh got on and helped make it more fun for the kids. They were all really sad when he got off, especially Jaedyn, she didn't want to get off.


I got some quick pictures of all the kids together before we left. They are standing by their "bridge" they were building, but didn't have time to finish. I had a hard time getting all the kids to look at the camera at the same time or give me a smile, but it's fun to see the personalities that come out with these kids when you have a camera pointed at them...



Here I am with Mary, Rikki, and Lara...these girls are so much fun to hang out with.


We got a quick family photo together to prove we were all there at the same time. My whole family is actually smiling...I love it, that almost never happens!


We stayed up in the mountains longer than we normally so, so when we got in the car to head home you could see the exhaustion on the kids' faces. I actually didn't see Jaron's face the whole way home because he was too busy playing with his cell phone, but I could see that Jaedyn and Jantzen were tired...and dirty!




Despite the occasional rainfall, it was a fun day at Mt. Charleston. It was a lot cooler than at our house which was a nice break. The kids had a blast running around and hiking and Josh and I enjoyed being able to relax a little bit while having some fun conversations with our friends. I'm so happy that we have such good friends that we can go and do fun things like this with. They make it easier being away from our families.